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Satin pajamas Silk flower Silk scarf...

Silk, satin pajamas, silk flower, silk scarf, silk sarees, silk fabric, silk and satin,
Thai silk, silk lingerie, Myanmar silk



-Silk is a very special and desirable material.

A sure signs of wealth and status for many purposes like a silk dress in the latest fashion, silk window curtains and silk duvet for sumptuous interiors, silk scarf, lingerie, pajamas and silk panties to wear. Plus silk robes, shirts and other cloth to look good and many other beautiful items. Silk looks good, comes in beautiful colors, it fits the body and gives a pleasant feeling when it touches the skin.  

Different countries produce different silk. The main production is done in China, India and Thailand, a rather exotic type is Myanmar silk or Burmese silk. Chinese silk has a history of thousand of years, Chinese silk feel so soft, smooth and slinky against your skin, the right material for a great silk dress.

-Silk is an up market Material

A silk dress signifies luxury; it has always been associated with crowned heads and riches throughout the different ages, but silk production is not easy. Silk has an excellent idiosyncratic, beauty and elegance because of which it is considered as the queen of fabrics compared with other man-made natural fibers in the textile industry. Silk production gives the strongest and lightest natural fiber and it has great elasticity, resilience and warmth, ideal for a silk dress.

How to make silk ? Production starts by extruding the raw material from  a domesticated silkworm known as Bombyx mori, which feeds on mulberry leaves.

Thai Silk - Scarf Pants Costumes

The traditional process of production requires the killing of hundreds of thousands of silk moths. The larvae are boiled alive, roasted or centrifuged. The female moths are slit open to check for diseases after they have laid the eggs for the next generation. Most consumers are not aware of the cruelty involved in the process of silk production. However, silk production can also be done in a non-violent, eco-friendly and sustainable way.

Unlike the conventional method where the pupae are killed before reeling yarn from the cocoons, the adult moths are allowed to emerge alive from the cocoons and then the silk yarn is spun from the open ended or pierced cocoons found in the wild or from those used in breeding cycles. Silkworm rearing for silk production, both mulberry and non-mulberry, is a highly labor intensive cottage industry. Mulberry cultivation is indispensable to domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori) rearing. Mulberry is a multiple tree. It produces a fine wood, branches can be used in basketry, and fruits are edible and can be used to make wine. Its leaves are fed to silkworm, besides being a good fodder for livestock and a secondary result after a long process is a silk dress.

Silk Saree White from India
Picture by utsavsarees

Non-mulberry or wild silkworms include eri, tassar and muga. Eri silkworms are reared on castor oil plant leaves to produce a brick-red silk, popularly known as eri silk. Tasar silkworms feed on oak, Terminalia and several other host plants and produce tasar silk. Muga silkworms are found only in the state of Assam and feed on ‘som’ and ‘soalu’ producing an unusual lustrous golden-yellow, attractive and strong silk.

World's total raw silk production was 56,500 tons in 1938 which has gone up by 36% during the last 53 years. By 2000 the total raw silk production was estimated at 85,000. Although production has been rising gradually, the share of silk in total for all textile fibers remains very low. The value of silk and silk products in international trade however is quite significant, silk being a high value item.

With the changing production pattern over time, China has emerged as world's largest producer and exporter of raw silk, their silk production accounting for 90% share of global exports. Principal destinations of Chinese raw silk during 1990 were the Western Europe (Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the UK), Japan, Hong Kong, India and the former USSR. In fact; it was China that was the birth place of the production of raw silk and silk weaving. The fiber produced was so treasured that it became a measure of currency and reward. The imperial courts in China even established factories to weave silk fabrics for ceremonial use and for gifts to foreign powers. In 2005, silk production in China was 69,000 metric tons of raw silk.

India stands second only to China in silk production with 16,000 metric tons. But, India has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world producing all the commercially known varieties of silk - mulberry, tassar (both tropical and temperate), eri, and muga. It ranks second to China as a mulberry silk producer and accounts for about 14% of world production of raw silk. It is also the second largest producer of tassar silk, again after China. It has the monopoly of world production of golden-yellow muga silk. India requires 120,000 metric tons of silk to meet the demand in world market and with better infrastructure facility; the sericulture industry can improve its productivity to 15 percent as against the current 9%. For buying the best quality silk production yarns at competitive prices visit this site http://www.yarnsandfibers.com   - your link to the most valuable textile resource on the Internet. With excellent database of prospective textile buyers and sellers, you also get the latest price trends and textile news from across the globe. Get your Free Membership today! Customized premium services are also available for serious businessmen.

- Visiting a silk factory in Suzhou, China.

The entire process of silk production is visible from the silkworm and the mulberry leaves to how the cocoons were hand sorted on a conveyer belt into either single or double cocoons. Surprisingly some of the cocoons have two worms inside and are used for silk batting for quilts rather than woven into fabric.

The single cocoons are placed into pots full of boiling water where they collapse and start to unravel. Once the worm is removed, (are you ready for this) ... it is eaten! Don't forget, in this culture, worms are considered a very special delicacy with a high protein content. Once the cocoons start to unravel, they are whisked with a stiff natural brush to snare a loose thread to begin the spooling and reeling process and then finally woven into luxurious silk. Author Michelle Newman COPYRIGHT 2006 International Child Art Foundation & Gale Group

Silk Production silk factory  (silk worms eating) photo by themollywild
Silk Production silk factory (silk worms eating mulberry leaves) photo by themollywild)
Silk Production Chiang Mai Thailand Boiling the cocoons in order to extract the silk

 

 

 

 


Silk Production China picture by paristyle combining silk from 8 to 10 silk worms to make a strand of silk
Silk Production Loom at Chennai  picture by donarey

-Silk has set the standard in luxury fabrics for several millennia. The origins of silk date back to Ancient China.

Legend has it that a Chinese princess was sipping tea in her garden when a cocoon fell into her cup, and the hot tea loosened the long strand of silk. Ancient literature, however, attributes the popularization of silk to the Chinese Empress Si-Ling, to around 2600 B.C. Called the Goddess of the Silkworm, Si-Ling apparently raised silkworms and designed a loom for making silk fabrics.

The Chinese used silk fabrics for arts and decorations as well as for clothing and special beautiful silk dresses. Silk became an integral part of the Chinese economy and an important means of exchange for trading with neighboring countries. Caravans traded the prized silk fabrics and other natural silk items along the famed Silk Road into the Near East.

By the fourth century B.C. , Alexander the Great is said to have introduced silk to Europe. The popularity of silk was influenced by Christian prelates who donned the rich fabrics and adorned their altars with them. Gradually the nobility began to have their own clothing fashioned from silk fabrics as well.

Initially, the Chinese were highly protective of their secret to making silk. Indeed, the reigning powers decreed death by torture to anyone who divulged the secret of the silk-worm. Eventually, the mystery of the silk production process was smuggled into neighboring regions, reaching Japan about A.D. 300 and India around A.D. 400. By the eighth century, Spain began producing silk, and 400 years later Italy became quite successful at making silk, with several towns giving their names to particular types of silk, at that time they probably worked like this Myanmar silk weaver today.

Myanmar silk weaver
Myanmar silk weaver

The first country to apply scientific techniques to raising silkworms was Japan, which produces some of the world's finest silk fabrics. Other countries that also produce quality silks are China, Italy, India, Spain, and France. China was the largest exporter of raw silk in the early 1990s, accounting for about 85% of the worlds raw silk, worth about $800 million. Exports of Chinas finished silk products were about half of the worlds total at about $3 billion.

Silk Lingerie
Silk lingerie

Silk is highly valued, not only for silk lingerie plus silk and satin lingerie because it possesses many excellent properties. Not only does it look lustrous and feel luxurious, but it is also lightweight, resilient, and extremely strong; one filament of silk is stronger then a comparable filament of steel! Although fabric manufacturers have created less costly alternatives to silk, such as nylon and polyester, silk is still in a class by itself.

But what could be more beautiful as genuine silk, satin pajamas, silk flower, silk lingerie a great silk scarf, beautiful silk sarees all kind of colors silk fabric and the best is probably silk and satin for silk lingerie, Thai silk is also a excellent clothing material for everyday use.

Silk lingerie
Silk lingerie
Silk and Satin Lingerie
Silk and Satin Lingerie

-Silk Raw Materials

How to make silk ? The secret to make silk is the tiny creature known as the silkworm, which is the caterpillar of the silk moth Bombyx mori. It feeds solely on the leaves of mulberry trees. Only one other species of moth, the Antheraea mylitta, also produces silk fiber. This is a wild creature, and its silk filament is about three times heavier than that of the cultivated silkworm. Its coarser fiber is called tussah.

The life cycle to make silk of the Bombyx mori begins with eggs laid by the adult moth. The larvae emerge from the eggs and feed on mulberry leaves. In the larval stage, the Bombyx is the caterpillar known as the silkworm. The silkworm spins a protective cocoon around itself so it can safely transform into a The secret to silk production is the tiny creature

How to make silk
How to make silk

known as the silk-worm, which is the caterpillar of the silk moth Bombyx mori. chrysalis. In nature, the chrysalis breaks through the cocoon and emerges as a moth. The moths mate and the female lays 300 to 400 eggs. A few days after emerging from the cocoon, the moths die and the life cycle continues.

The cultivation to make silk of silkworms for the purpose of producing silk is called sericulture. Over the centuries, sericulture has been developed and refined to a precise science. Sericulture involves raising healthy eggs through the chrysalis stage when the worm is encased in its silky cocoon. The chrysalis inside is destroyed before it can break out of the cocoon so that the precious silk filament

remains intact. The healthiest moths are selected for breeding, and they are allowed to reach maturity, mate, and produce more eggs

Generally, one cocoon make silk between 1,000 and 2,000 feet of silk filament, made essentially of two elements. The fiber, called fibroin, makes up between 75 and 90%, and sericin, the gum secreted by the caterpillar to glue the fiber into a cocoon, comprises about 10-25% of silk. Other elements include fats, salts, and wax. To make one yard of silk material, about 3,000 cocoons are used.

-Silk Production - Sericulture

Breeding silkworms

1 Only the healthiest moths are used for breeding to make silk. Their eggs are categorized, graded, and meticulously tested for infection. Unhealthy eggs are burned. The healthiest eggs may be placed in cold storage until they are ready to be hatched. Once the eggs are incubated, they usually hatch within seven days. They emerge at a mere one-eighth of an inch (3.2 mm) long and must be maintained in a carefully controlled environment. Under normal conditions, the eggs would hatch once a year in the spring when mulberry trees begin to leaf. But with the intervention of Seri culturists, breeding can occur as many as three times per year.

2 The silkworms to make silk feed only on the leaves of the mulberry tree. The mulberry leaves are finely chopped and fed to the voracious silkworms every few hours for 20 to 35 days. During this period the wormns increase in size to about 3.5 inches (8.9 cm). They also shed their skin, or molt, four times and change color from gray to a translucent pinkish color.

Spinning the cocoon

When the silkworm starts to fidget and toss its head back and forth, it is preparing to spin its cocoon to making silk. The caterpillar attaches itself to either a twig or rack for support. As the worm twists its head, it spins a double strand of fiber in a figure-eight pattern and constructs a symmetrical wall around itself. The filament is secreted from each of two glands called the spinneret located under the jaws of the silkworm. The insoluble protein-like fiber is called fibroin. 4 The fibroin is held together by sericin, a soluble gum secreted by the worm, which hardens as soon as it is exposed to air. The result is the raw silk fiber, called the bave. The caterpillar spins a cocoon encasing itself completely. It can then safely transform into the chrysalis, which is the pupa stage.

Making Silk
Making Silk

Stoving the chrysalis

The natural course would be for the chrysalis to break through the protective cocoon and emerge as a moth. However, sericulturists must destroy the chrysalis so that it does not break the silk filament. This is done by stoving, or stifling, the chrysalis with heat.

The Filature

Sorting and softening the cocoons to make silk. The filature is the factory in which the cocoons are make into silk thread. In the filature the cocoons are sorted by various characteristics, including color and size, so that the finished product can be of uniform quality. The cocoons must then be soaked in hot water to loosen the sericin. Although the silk is about 20% sericin, only 1% is removed at this stage. This way the gum facilitates the following stage in which the filaments are combined to form silk thread, or yarn.

Reeling the filament

7 Reeling to make silk may be achieved manually or automatically. The cocoon is brushed to locate the end of the fiber to make silk. It is threaded through a porcelain eyelet, and the fiber is reeled onto a wheel. Meanwhile, diligent operators check for flaws in the filaments as they are being reeled. 8 As each filament is nearly finished being reeled, a new fiber is twisted onto it, thereby forming one long, continuous thread. Sericin contributes to the adhesion of the fibers to each other.

Packaging the skeins

9 The end product of making silk, the raw silk filaments, are reeled into skeins. These

Make Silk
Make Silk

skeins are packaged into bundles weighing 5-10 pounds (2-4 kg), called books. The books are further packaged into bales of 133 pounds (60 kg) and transported to manufacturing centers.

Forming silk yarn

After making silk, 10 Silk thread, also called yarn, is formed by throwing, or twisting, the reeled silk. First the skeins of raw silk are categorized by color, size, and quantity. Next they are soaked in warm water mixed with oil or soap to soften the sericin. The silk is then dried. 11 As the silk filaments are reeled onto bobbins, they are twisted in a particular manner to achieve a certain texture of yarn. For instance, it consist of several filaments which are twisted together in one direction. They are turned tightly for sheer fabrics and loosely for thicker fabrics. Combinations of singles and untwisted fibers may be twisted together in certain patterns to achieve desired

textures of fabrics such as crepe de chine, voile, or tram. Fibers may also be manufactured in different patterns for use in the nap of fabrics, for the outside, or for the inside of the fabric. 12 The silk yarn is put through rollers to make the width more uniform. The yarn is inspected, weighed, and packaged. Finally, the yarn is shipped to fabric manufacturers. After production and to achieve the distinctive softness and shine of silk, the remaining sericin must be removed from the yarn by soaking it in warm soapy water. Degumming decreases the weight of the yarn by as much as 25%

-Finishing silk fabrics with great silk designs.

After production and degumming, the silk yarn is a creamy white color. It may next be dyed as yarn, or after the yarn has been woven into fabric. The silk industry makes a distinction between pure-dye silk and what is called weighted silk. In the pure-dye process, the silk is colored with dye, and may be finished with water-soluble substances such as starch, glue, sugar, or gelatin. To produce weighted silk, metallic substances are added to the fabric during the dying process. This is done to increase the weight lost during degumming and to add body to the fabric. If weighting is not executed properly, it can decrease the longevity of the fabric, so pure-dye silk is considered the superior product. After dyeing, silk fabric may be finished by additional processes, such as bleaching, embossing, steaming, or stiffening.

Silk Designs
Thai silk designs

-Spun Silk

Not all of the silk filament is usable for reeled silk production. The leftover silk may include the brushed ends or broken cocoons. This shorter staple silk may be used for spinning silk in a manner of fabrics like cotton and linen. The quality of spun silk is slightly inferior to reeled silk in that it is a bit weaker and it tends to become fuzzy. The waste material from the spun silk can also be used for making "waste silk" or "silk noil." This coarse material is commonly used for draperies and upholstery.

-The Future

Sericulture is an ancient science for silk production, and the modern age has not brought great changes to silk manufacture. Rather, man-made fibers such as polyester, nylon, and acetate have replaced silk in many instances. But many of the qualities of silk cannot be reproduced. For example, silk is stronger than an equivalent strand of steel. Some recent research has focused on the molecular structure of silk as it emerges from the silkworm, in order to better understand how new, stronger artificial fibers might be constructed. Silk spun by the silkworm starts out as a liquid secretion. The liquid passes through a brief interim state with a semi-ordered molecular structure known as nematic liquid crystal, before it solidifies into a fiber. Materials scientists have been able to manufacture durable fibers using liquid crystal source material, but only at high temperatures or under extreme pressure. Researcher are continuing to study the silkworm to determine how liquid crystal is transformed into fiber at ordinary temperatures and pressures.

-What about some "Silk Power" ?

Special effects fabrics like dreamy chiffon and luminous silk charmeuse. Silk-chiffon halter dress, ribbon silk twill gown with drape neck.Silk-satin sleeveless V-neck gown. Silk-chiffon ballerina dress, embroidered heavy silk-charmeuse gown. This are great results of a sophisticated silk production process.

Jump-start the night and emphasize your assets in a figure-defining bustier and a skirt that hugs the hips.

 

 

 

   

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